Added 30 September 2026
freak
/fɹiːk/ noun
First recorded: 1567 Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about freak at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
Someone or something that is markedly unusual or unpredictable.
The two-headed calf was a freak.
- A person who is extremely abnormal in appearance, social behavior, sexual orientation, gender identity, or business practices; an oddball, a unique person, originally in a displeasing or alienating way.
- A hippie.
verb
- To react extremely or irrationally, usually under distress or discomposure.
- To be placed or place someone under the influence of a psychedelic drug, to experience reality withdrawal, or hallucinations (nightmarish), to behave irrational or unconventional due to drug use.
adjective
-
Strange, weird, unexpected.
a freak genius
verb
Origin
First attested in 1567. The sense "sudden change of mind, a whim" is of uncertain origin. Probably from a dialectal word related to Middle English frekynge (“capricious behavior; whims”) and Middle English friken, frikien (“to move briskly or nimbly”), from Old English frīcian (“to leap, dance”), or Middle English frek (“insolent, daring”), from Old English frec (“desirous, greedy, eager, bold, daring”), from Proto-West Germanic *frek, from Proto-Germanic *frekaz, *frakaz (“hard, efficient, greedy, bold, audacious”) (in which case, it would be related to the noun under etymology 3). Compare Old High German freh (“eager”), Old English frēcne (“dangerous”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)